I hissed in pain as the wind kicked up sand and dust into the wounds of my ears.

Now that things were winding down from the battle the adrenalin I had been relying on to ignore the pain had faded. Every grain of sand, every tiny pebble and bit of grit felt like spikes into the raw wounds of my ears. I've been hurt before, mobian physical superiority didn't exactly equate immunity to misfortunate fumbles. But nothing I've had before, the sprained ankles and the one time I broke my arm, compared to the feeling of holes torn in my flesh.

It had me looking forward to getting into those mining tunnels. Away from the wind I could attend to my hurts without further contamination.

Not bothering with following the spiraling path down we leapt down each level. I followed the machines with ease, though I could only jump ten feet at a time I could comfortably withstand falling three times that height. When we reached the bottom my attention was immediately grabbed by something glinting brightly in the light.

Striding over I came to a stop just outside a mine entrance. On the ground was a basket on its side, spilling rubies onto the ground. Clearly the humans had gotten extremely lucky and struck it rich, also clearly their good luck had been completely used up before they could spend any of their ill gotten gains. Even I found myself being drawn by the allure of the 'shiny' and picked up a gemstone to examine it.

It shined brightly in the sunlight, filtered red light scattering over my face as I held it before the sun. Despite myself I could not help but admire the sharply defined lines of the faceted gemstone. Most mobian settlements out in the countryside didn't really have much in the way of an economy. So long as we didn't have to deal with human traders too often we naturally returned to a barter system as opposed to paper money or even wasteful minted coins. To my slight shame though my home village did have somewhat regular trader contact, a gemstone like this would be valuable for such encounters.

'Plus it's easy to carry a bunch of these.'

Quickly I swiped a dozen rubies into my satchel and had to fight to not look around in an obviously guilty manner. These dead and run off humans had no need of gemstones and besides… it wasn't their land in the first place. Still though something seemed off again and it wasn't the itching in my ears I couldn't scratch without irritating the wounds. Briefly I bounced and spun a ruby in my hand, looking down at its cleanly cut lines and smooth surfaces whose glint was barely marred by dust.

"Cony!" Jolted out of my musings I turned to look at Alfa. "Since you like hanging around that tunnel so much you can go down that one! Take these buggos with you!"

To my secret delight a caterkiller, motobug and a buzz bomber made their way over to me. Their models were a few generations old by now and they clearly were on the path to being left to fall to pieces. Still I did enjoy their aesthetic, deadly war machine of misery and terror aside, it was more appealing to me compared to some of the new stuff that Robotnik was building.

I motioned to the caterkiller to take position next to me and we entered the mine.

Briefly there was darkness as I dug in a pocket for my small flashlight before with a click and a buzz the caterkiller's eyes brightened and illuminated the tunnel. I still withdrew the flashlight but made the machine take point just in front of me. We continued down for a time before I found a convenient boulder and sat down.

Motioning for the metal caterpillar to look at me I dug around another pocket and withdrew my medical supplies. It wasn't much, just a bunch of herbal paste and some strips of clean cloth but at the very least it was mobian herbal paste. Probably one of the few things mobians produced that humans found of genuine national value, while they made do with chemicals and pills we mobians had spent countless generations cultivating potent healing herbs. A traditional mobian healer could work just as well as a human medical team, probably even better!

Too bad all I had was some dried up paste…

Unable to contain the winces and hisses of pain I pulled my ears down and sighed at the sight of my dirty wounds. I'd have to use up some water to clean them out if I didn't want them infected, healing paste or no. Thankfully the worst of the damage was well in reach as I unstoppered my canteen and carefully flushed out the detritus before remoisturizing the paste. As I began applying herbal paste and bandages I couldn't help but notice how blurry the vision in my right eye was getting. Initially rather worried my eye had gotten damaged in some way I began carefully prodding the area before wincing. There was nothing wrong or dangerous happening there, my right eye had just started getting swollen from the goggles being smashed into it. I also didn't have any remedies for swelling, just open wounds so I'd have to just put up with it.

Finally done attending to my wounds to the best of my supplies and abilities I sat on the boulder for a moment. I stared into the emotionless eyes of the caterkiller before it suddenly tilted its head at me in a curious manner.

Huh… did Robotnik give all his machines some form of sapience? Why would he- I know why he'd do that. Because it's more fun to destroy something if it cringes in fear as you do it or maybe even beg as well.

'A real piece of work, that human.'

Getting up from the boulder I motioned for the caterkiller to take point again. Allowing myself to be led down the mines I couldn't help but be distracted by the feeling I was missing something. It was a sensation at the very edge of my senses, like I just managed to brush my fingers over something I was reaching for. I found myself suddenly fixating on the faint jingling noises emanating from my satchel. Reaching within I took out a single ruby and found myself once again studying the surface with a critical eye. It was the same as it ever was, vibrant red, clear, clean cut…

Clean cut?

Suddenly I recalled that I had found the rubies outside of the mining tunnel.

'What kind of rubies are dug out of the ground looking ready for display in a store?'

Looking up I saw that the eye lights of the caterkiller was now illuminating a cobblestone wall at the end of the mining tunnel. In the center of this tunnel was a hole smashed into the wall, revealing a room in the distant gloom of the fringes of our lights.

'Ones looted from a crypt.' I finished the thought with a grimace.

Stories of ancient ruins and tombs full of treasure were dime a dozen, far move provable stories of treasure hunters being torn apart by ancient traps could be found by the bushel. You heard all kinds of stories of so-called legendary treasure hidden away in some corner of the Marble Ruins Zone or in the flooded depths of the infamous Labyrinth Zone. In my opinion it was far too easy for people to miss the dozens of stories of people brutally killed in the reckless search of such treasure. For every singed adventurer leaving the Marble Ruins with a bejeweled relic there was a dozen others being scooped up in buckets as little more than greasy smoldering charcoal, for every diver rising from the Labyrinth with a gem the size of a tangerine there were far more getting tangled in some loose chain. And those were just the extreme examples, hundreds, maybe thousands of hopefuls left such famed places with nothing at all.

With thoughts of myself being eviscerated by some inexplicably still working ancient blender I fell back slightly. Better that the expendable machines take the lead on this one. At the very least they were all covered in armored plate and thus were liable to survive an encounter with spinning wall blades.

The caterkiller was the first to enter, rising its head high for a moment and scanning its surroundings. Apparently seeing nothing it scuttled in like the giant metal centipede it was, followed closely by the motobug crossing the ledge with a hop and the buzz bomber swooping within. Hearing no sudden explosions or tearing metal I leaned in and shined my light around the room.

Perhaps my caution was a bit uncalled for as the wires I could see strung along the ceiling and feeding into work lights were the first things I noticed. Obviously the miners had been here and since I could see no messy aftermaths of triggered traps scattered about I figured it was safe.

Hopping into the room I began exploring.

It was some kind of large auditorium from the sloping stone seats facing me with interspacing steps between sections. The other two badniks in the room turned their eye lights on as well and I began to make out more details. Scattered amongst the large chamber were several crates, obviously brought into the area by the miners. Approaching one I found it to be utterly empty and guessed that the miners had only recently broken into this chamber. Though sitting atop the crate was a forgotten box of cigarettes.

I found myself staring at the cigarette carton in my hand for a long moment. Smoking had been an unpleasant experience in the past, the apparent relaxed state it induced never made up for the smell, taste and choking smoke in general but… my other hand began to shake again.

Fumbling at the cover I opened the cartoon to reveal a mostly full box. It was then I recalled the fact I had run out of matches just before joining up with Robotnik. I still had my flint and steel of course but lighting a little cigarette with it was going to be an exercise in irritation. Nevertheless I could do with something to calm the nerves considering everything that's happened so far, so I settled in to try to light only the end of the cigarette.

Dazzling sparks of flaked magnesium flew in my vision as I began making my attempt when one of the badniks came over.

The buzz bomber turned down the intensity of it's eye lights as it looked at me and then the cigarette I was attempting to light. I was about to ask what it wanted when it glanced back at its attached side boosters. The boosters then began to activate seemingly at their lowest level, the sound of flaring flames resounding. It looked at me again and then motioned its head to the side.

"Ah."

Leaning over I gingerly held the end of the cigarette just within the well of the booster and quickly flicked away the burning flame. Taking a long drag that normally should have had me spluttering for breath I enjoyed the wave of calm that seemed to come over me immediately. Perhaps it was mostly because I was expecting to feel better but I was hardly going to argue with results. Looking back at the silently staring badnik I nodded.

"Good murderbot."

It closed its eyes briefly, giving a startling impression of being pleased before turning its eye lights back up.

No longer quite so anxious, I joined the machine in searching the rest of the chamber. We ascended the steps together and found a dark hallway leading deeper into the ruin. This likely would have been the part where we played intrepid explorer and his quirky sidekick had it not been for the blood stains.

The hall was long and either ending at a turn or deadend, there were a few gaps in the walls that might have been intersecting hallways and maybe even a few door impressions. But what really concerned me was the large bloodstain just a few meters into the hall. There were no signs at all of what caused it but beside the blood were streaks of crimson like a body had been dragged away back into the auditorium.

After a few moments consideration I took a spare bullet out from my bag and flicked it into the hall roughly around the bloodstain. The bullet hadn't even hit the floor when an array of gleaming metal spikes shot up from holes camouflaged amongst the designs in the floor. The spikes remained up for a moment before retracting back just as fast as they emerged.

'There's the traps I had been worried about.' With a sigh I turned around. 'And here I thought it was a regular ruin.'

Of course the presence of traps meant there was something to protect and something to protect meant something to loot for Robotnik. I was pessimistically certain I'd be taking a lead role in such excavations as a further test of my "usefulness". So now having dodged impalement and being shot I was also going to have to dodge ancient deathtraps. Unless of course the treasure room was the auditorium but what was the chance of-

Well, well… by my lucky feet.

As it turns out the back wall for the auditorium, the very wall that had been broken through by the miners, had quite the art piece serving as a background. Now illuminated and likely being scanned at this very moment by a pair of badnik eyes was a grand and intricate carving. It likely was supposed to display some recorded epic but the passage of time had not done it any favors even sealed up as it was. The whole right side of the artwork had worn away to a blank white stone.

Leaving behind a trail of noxious clouds I descended back down the steps and added my own flashlight to the mix. Now that I was closer I was able to make out some more details of the damaged epic. My heartbeat began to race, not in anxiety but genuine excitement. Instead of just being some grave robber and treasure hunter I felt far more like an adventuring archeologist, braving ruins and piecing together ancient stories from scraps. Damaged as it was, inexperienced as I was, I one hundred percent invested in trying to figure out the story of this epic.

I suppose had I been human I would have first noticed the incredible amounts of gemstones in the epic simply used for color, their sparkling surfaces reflecting the light.

The whole artwork was filled with artistic swirls, things just to fill the background as far as I knew. Hundreds, maybe thousands of polished lapis lazuli stones made up the border of the work. In the left center of the work were two shapes and one humanoid figure. The humanoid figure was made up entirely of some kind of gold colored gemstone, maybe topaz? The shape below it might have been another humanoid figure but the miners had gotten at it with picks and crudely extracted the gems. Said gems were still present, laying in a basket just at the foot of the work. Further left could have been another figure but this one too had been fully and crudely extracted. I recalled the red rubies again, clean cut and shaped. It was clear where those gemstones had come from. So the far left figure was red instead of gold.

I then meandered to the right side of the artwork. This side I had initially thought had been completely worn away but upon closer inspection I had to rethink that. Reaching out I touched and felt at the transition between artwork and smooth white stone. The stone hadn't been worn away at all, it was cut to be this way. Stepping back so I stood at the very edge of the auditorium stage I examined the work fully. The two golden figures, the lone red one at the back, the smooth white… void at the right.

Hmm… was this a creation myth? Two golden gods creating the world out of nothingness? If so, who was the red one? I really wish the humans hadn't damaged it but as aggravating as it was I could hardly complain considering what the badniks had done to that graveyard.

"Rabbit!"

The instantly familiar voice of Robotnik shattered the silence and had me jumping in fright once more. Spinning in place I was met by the blank gaze of the caterkiller a mere foot from my face.

"I've examined the architecture of these ruins and they don't match up with what I expect to find." The Doctor's slightly tinny voice emitted from the badnik. "The scouts have reported more sites to investigate. I'm forwarding the data to the coconuts, explore them at your discretion. Keep at it until I tell you otherwise. Eggman, out!"

Well at least that answered the question of whether or not Robotnik was really watching and listening at every moment. Though what he said at the end concerned me greatly. At my discretion? Clearly the man had given me a length of rope and was now watching to see if I'd make a climbing rope or noose for myself. Now this was the kind of test you wanted to cheat on as much as possible… if only I knew how.

"Right, let's regroup outside." With a sigh I motioned the badniks back through the break. I took one more look over the artwork one last time before following.

A short trek back through the mining tunnels had us back outside again where the rest of the badnik horde had already regrouped. Chances were the other tunnels were just regular mining tunnels for pulling ore out of the earth, so Alfa and the others had little more to investigate compared to me.

"Found something, did ya?" Alfa commented on my approach.

"Nothing the Doctor wanted though." I shrugged. "What did the scouts find?"

"I was talking about the death stick you got there…anyway," Alfa began, getting something like a distant look in its mechanical eyes. "From the looks of things, a couple more towns, what looks like a bunch of mobians heading off the humans we chased out and maybe some more ruins. What's the game plan, boss rabbit?"

The thought of ordering another attack on a town had my gut churning despite the nicotine. I tried very hard to not notice I was completely surrounded by all sides by killer robots as I considered my next step. I killed three people today… all my life I'd never expect I'd actually kill someone. Even when I had human farmers firing off what I hoped was warning shots I never considered the thought I'd have to kill them. The idea of ordering an attack on a settlement, human or not, instead of merely being part of the attack I'd be the reason why the attack was happening. All the death that would ensue from the attack… it would all be my fault.

'Then let's go somewhere with no people first and hope we're loud enough for everyone in the area to get the message.'

Decision made I now had to justify why I made it…

"We should prioritize the ruins first." I said and Alfa raised a questioning metallic brow. "Doctor Robotnik wants something in an ancient ruin, we're hardly going to find it in some prospector town."

"Sure… but what if it's like this place and they built it right next to it." Alfa said with a motion up towards the still smoldering town. "Or if a bunch of mobians built their homes in it?"

"Then we go after them next." I said in what I hoped was a firm uncompromising tone. "We keep exploring ruins and go on raiding towns and villages. We'll do this until we either find what we're looking for or Doctor Robotnik is satisfied there is nothing to find."

"You're the Boss!" Alfa said, a hint of an approving tone to its voice. It then motioned towards a larger variant of the octus. "Take a loadoff on cueball's head over there, been a long day so far and you meatbag types get worn down easily. I'll take us to the nearest ruin."

"No arguments here." I replied and hopped atop the octus.

Its surface was worn from age and recent fighting so it wasn't quite as smooth as it ought to have been. So I'd be able to relax without fear of sliding off, especially with the machine making adjustments to ensure I stayed level. A greater relief was the fact we would be going to the ruins on the list first.

Hopefully the rest of our time here in the Frontier Canyon Zone would be without further bloodshed.

'And I can get to work thinking of ways to give Robotnik the slip after all is said and done…'

-TBC-

Author Note: Sonic Frontiers is an amazing game with a great story. I really shouldn't have been as surprised to find out that Ian Flynn is writing the story with how great Amy and Knuckle's characterization has been shown. Plus I even like how Eggman and Sage are turning out to be in the game. I'm not there yet but I'm looking forward to Tails when I get to him.